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electric baseboard wiring

Tina
Are you sure that you have a 120 volt heaters. Im not saying they are not but most of the time and if one heater is being feed off of a 30 amp double pole breaker they are 220 volt heaters. With 30 amps you need to run a 10 awg wire. Check your voltage and let me know and ill tell you what specific type of wire to run.

electric baseboard wiring

You can find the info when you take the cover off however becarefull some case you will find 120 volt verison as well. { typically under 6 footers }

How many baseboard heater is working off from the exsting thermosat ?{ on the same circuit }

some case with larger room you will find mulit heaters on the same circuits with 30 amp { @ 240 volts } you can have many as 7200 watt but with 80% derating effect there { a must for electric baseboard heater due they are contiouns useage [ more than 3 hours ]}
so the total wattage is 5700 watts.

And the other thing just watchout on 240 volt heater I know you will run into black et white conductors { the code say it should be remarked on white conductor if used on switch leg or on 240 volts circuits only with cable anything else the bet is off }so if that the case you will have to remark them with any colours with tape or paint but not grey or green and of course white that is specfic use colour.
You can verify it by looking the conductor colour at the breaker box as well that will give you a nice giveaway what it hook up.

electric baseboard wiring

There are usually two heaters on each breaker.
I figured they were 120 because of the wire, not 220 wire like stove and dryer.

For baseboard heater they not always be on 120 volts they can be on 240 volt the quickest way is you have double pole breaker for electric heater.

Before you move the heater or the thermsast make sure the power is off a simple neon test light { get one can read 240volts } if that lit up you know you have power if stay off then you can go ahead and disconnect the wirings and move it if need to however it will be wise idea to mark them down which way it will hook up.

Normally the 240 volt baseboard heater is very simple hook up all you need two hot conductor one to the heating element the other one to baseboard thermosat or safety switch one of the two.

That conductor size typically 4.0mm˛{ # 12 AWG } you will see white et black as I mention above becarefull somecase you will have two hot line.

electric baseboard wiring

Sorry guys I am not much of an electrical chick, the proverbial light bulb is pretty dim when it comes to all this stuff, sorry to be blond.

Built a custom shower, and plumbing, moved a kitchen, installed hardwood drywall and taping you know the easy stuff but electricity...

There are usually two heaters on each breaker.
I figured they were 120 because of the wire, not 220 wire like stove and dryer.

It is the cottage so I can't put a meter to it right now.

Do any of these points help?

thanks Tina

This is one case where it's best to call in a professional/licensed/qualified Electrician. (Take your pick). Because there are so many variables. Albeit small but critical. The first specific detail to know is the voltage the heaters are running on. Without knowing that it's impossible to do anything. As you see the professional electricians on this site tried to help you. In spite of everything said, you should make an effort to look for a nameplate on any one of the heaters. Maybe removing the cover will reveal the nameplate with all the Electrical ratings. Good luck

electric baseboard wiring

Quote:

Originally Posted by spark plug

This is one case where it's best to call in a professional/licensed/qualified Electrician. (Take your pick). Because there are so many variables. Albeit small but critical. The first specific detail to know is the voltage the heaters are running on. Without knowing that it's impossible to do anything. As you see the professional electricians on this site tried to help you. In spite of everything said, you should make an effort to look for a nameplate on any one of the heaters. Maybe removing the cover will reveal the nameplate with all the Electrical ratings. Good luck

I was trying to be proactive in buying the wire beforehand as the hardware store is 60 minutes away. It is winter so I was not going to remove the heaters as I was still using them. I thought given the smaller gauge wire being run already (white casing not black like stove and dryer) you could recommend wire 12 14 etc.

I do have a tester as well that detects current and use it religiously.
I'll get a reading on the volts on my next visit.